The Secret Language of Elephants

60 Minutes' Bob Simon Reports On Research To Create An Elephant "Dictionary"

(CBS)  For two decades, a group of wild African elephants has been watched over, studied and protected by their own guardian angel: an extraordinary American scientist named Andrea Turkalo.

Turkalo's own story is pretty amazing, but not nearly as compelling as the insights into elephant behavior her research has revealed, especially when it comes to "the secret language of elephants."

Elephants communicate in a complicated, sophisticated language that scientists are trying to decipher and compile into the world's first elephant dictionary. When we heard that this is all happening in one of the most magical places on Earth - a remote clearing in Central Africa where forest elephants, the rarest, most mysterious, and most threatened member of the species congregate - we simply had to go.

Photos: Forest Elephants
The Elephant Listening Project
The Elephant Listening Project: Meet the Team

The Sangha River flows through the Congo Basin along the border between Cameroon and the Central African Republic in the second largest rain forest on Earth. This remote corner of the world is the place Andrea Turkalo, a field

Turkalo lives in a compound that she and a group of Pygmies built from scratch. The Pygmies help her run the place.

Commuting to her job is a hike. The last couple of miles took us through some interesting terrain.

"Okay, now we're gonna enter the forest. And the advice I like to give everyone at this point is to stick together," Turkalo told 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon. "Because if we happen to run into elephant, we should all stay together and move in the same direction so we don't confuse them."

A confused elephant could be dangerous. Fortunately, running into one on the trail is rare.

Asked who made the trail, Turkalo said, "This was made by hundreds of years of elephant traffic in this forest."

"If you look at their feet it's obvious. They do a lot of road work," she explained.

The elephants have stomped out the equivalent of a vast interstate highway system. It took us past giant teak trees, through a thick primordial forest.

Turkalo has hiked this trail twice a day for nearly 20 years. Where does it go?

We could hear them long before we could see anything. Suddenly, the trail ended, and right before us, was an opening called the Dzanga Clearing and more than 50 forest elephants.

The setting was extraordinary - straight out of Jurassic Park, tranquil, except for an occasional roar.

"Andrea, do you remember the very first time you saw this place?" Simon asked.

"Yeah. It was in the late 80s. And I actually slept here," she recalled. "And I slept on the ground in a tent. And all night there was this symphony of elephants. And when I woke in the morning it was like I had landed in Paradise."

Asked what she means by paradise, Turkalo said, "You know, there are so few places in the world today where animals are not being harassed by people. And this is one of them. And it's an exceptional sight."

The clearing is a watering hole, a spa and a sanctuary - a place where elephants take their time, the measured graceful pace of the largest land animal on Earth.

They come to the clearing for the minerals which they can't seem to get enough of. It's a place where elephants play, but nobody gets hurt.

Kids fall and get up the way kids do. One elephant was giving himself a massage - a tree massage. Another one was trying to hide, unsuccessfully.

[Natashachick]

Wonderful segment. These animals are intelligent and beautiful. Thank you for airing this 60 Minutes.

[lyndabyrd28]

I feel it is critical to protect the elephants. They are magnificent
creatures and are important to their ecosystem. It is also important
to research them. This will allow us to better understand their needs
and protect them.

As an example, cheetahs were researched in their native habitat. When they became endangered species, zoos were trying to increase their numbers, but they would not breed in the zoo. The research done on them in nature provided knowledge indicating they required privacy to mate. Zoos accomodated them, providing secluded mating areas. They then mated and produced young.

To protect the elephants, as with any species, it is necessary to also
protect their habitat which provides them with everything they need to
survive. We will not know everything they need to survive unless we
research them, learning their behavior and needs.

[rematenaj]

Elephants are incredibly intelligent. I find it sad that humans, in general, think we are superior to other life forms. I think elephant killers should be poached! But then, I have a passionate and enduring love for elephants.

[bajajohn1]

This is a beautiful story about a lovely woman doing a wonderful job in trying to understand these magnificent beasts. Poaching of these animals for their ivory and then selling them to profiteers reminds of the blood diamonds story. The buyers should be poached by someone who wishes to protect the elephants from becoming extinct.

[the censor]

I was wondering how Andrea Turkalo get her electricity and Internet access in the middle of the jungle.

Thanks

[jbeckett5]

If you have nothing else, electricity can be had from the sun and Internet from satellites.

[coonana]

Bob Simon's piece on the experience of the researcher, Andrea Turkalo, in observing the communication and behaviour of the elephants of the Central African Republic makes me even more irate over the mistreatment of elephants by Ringling Bros. circus. No words can describe the revulsion I feel at the cruelties inflicted on these elephants Ringling Bros. has at their disposal. Shame on them. I'm waiting for a response from Sen. Joseph Lieberman to whom I have appealed for assistance in preventing Ringling Bros. continuation of this abuse. Pictures don't lie (in this case) so take a look at them at PETA's website. I don't care if you don't like PETA: check it out! Thanks to Bob Simon for the brilliant and interesting story.